"WON" 2003 Obituary

WONG o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-02-12 published
Cecilia Pik-Ling
TAM
Just over a week after being diagnosed with cancer, died peacefully
at Scarborough General Hospital with her loving family at her
side on February 9, 2003. She was 54. She will be sadly missed
by her husband Paul and children Janice and Anthony. Dear sister
to Paulson
LEE and his wife
WinifredWONG,
AnitaLEE and her
husband Choy Ping
YIN,
LeslieLEE and her husband Gilbert
HUNG,
Antonia LEE and her husband Norman TU, Josephine
LEE and her
husband William
CHAN, Bernard
LEE and his wife Happy
SHEE. Predeceased
by her parents
LEEChunKwok and
LO Kwei Yuen as well as her
siblings LEE Pik Kwan, Betty
LEE, Elsie
LEE and her husband Chau
Kai Hang, and
LEE Pik Shan. Francis
LEE, Betty
LEE's husband,
will also miss Ceci. Loving sister-in-law to Peter
TAM and his
wife Julianna
CHEUNG, Alice
TAM and her husband Charles
YAM,
Henry TAM and his wife
TeresaTSANG.
Her many relatives and Friends
will miss her kindness and beauty. She passed away with extraordinary
grace, courage, and faith. Surely God was on her side. Her selfless
devotion will be remembered by all the people she has touched
during her shortened lifetime. Family and Friends may visit at
the Jerrett Funeral Home ­ North York Chapel, 6191 Yonge Street,
North York (2 lights South of Steeles Ave.) on Wednesday from
6 ­ 9 p.m. and Thursday from 2 ­ 4 and 6 ­ 9 p.m. There will
be no visitation on Friday. The Funeral Mass will be on Saturday
February 15, 2003 at 10: 00 a.m. at St. Bonaventure Roman Catholic
Church, 1300 Leslie St. (at Lawrence Ave. East.). Private burial
for family members only. In lieu of flowers, please donate to
the Cecilia
TAMMemorialFund at 42 Fulham Street, Scarborough,
Ontario, M1S 2A5.

WONG o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-07-26 published
'She wore a smile all the time'
A nursing 'hero' cared for severe acute respiratory syndrome
victims, became one herself and died not knowing the fate of
her husband
By Allison
LAWLORSaturday,July 26, 2003 - Page F10
'I don't think she worried about it," Michael
TANG says of his
mother. "She was very invincible."
But Tecla LIN knew the risks far better than most people. She
was among the first to volunteer when West Park Healthcare Centre,
where she was a part-time nurse, set up a special unit to treat
Toronto health-care workers stricken in the city's initial outbreak
of sudden acute respiratory syndrome.
It was dangerous duty, but she knew what to watch for -- especially
the high fever so closely associated with the mysterious disease.
So, whenever she went to sleep, a thermometer could be found
with the face creams and makeup on her bedside table.
Then, on April 4, she realized she had sudden acute respiratory
syndrome symptoms and immediately checked herself into Sunnybrook
and Women's College Health Sciences Centre.
"We didn't think much of it the first week or so," recalls Mr.
TANG, 32. "We remained optimistic."
But Ms. LIN's health started to deteriorate and soon she required
an oxygen mask. For three months she remained in hospital, and
"it got harder and harder for her to breathe," her son says.
Last month she was transferred to the William Osler Health Centre
in Etobicoke, where she died last Saturday morning at the age
of 58.
She probably knew the end was near. What she didn't know was
that Chi Sui
LIN, the husband she had infected, had passed away
just three weeks after she went into Sunnybrook.
Mr. TANG says he and his brother Wilson decided to keep their
stepfather's death from their mother, feeling she needed all
her strength to fight her own illness.
Born on December 18, 1944, in Hong Kong, Tecla Lai Yin
WONG was
the eldest of four children. Her father died while she was still
young, and she became largely responsible for supporting the
family.
"There was a great deal of obligation to help the family and
to help others," Mr.
TANG says.
After graduating from the Government School of Nursing, she began
her career in Kowloon, Hong Kong, in 1968, spending five years
as an operating-room nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
In June, 1968, she married Augustine
TANG, the father of Wilson
and Michael. Five years later, the couple (who divorced in the
mid-1980s) brought their family to Canada, settling in Toronto
and opening a Chinese restaurant.
Ms. LIN worked in the struggling restaurant with her husband
but in 1977 landed a job at the Doctors Hospital, where she worked
there for more than 20 years. In that time, she became a specialist
in dealing with high-maintenance patients. She also went back
to school, to earn her nursing degree from Ryerson University
and to complete a certificate in critical-care nursing.
She started to work part-time at West Park Healthcare Centre
in October, 1999, mainly in the rehabilitation centre's respiratory-services
unit. She also worked part-time at the Toronto Rehabilitation
Institute, often on the night shift.
By working at night, she could spend the day doing the other
things that she enjoyed. She regularly went to the Chinese Community
Centre of Ontario in downtown Toronto with Mr.
LIN, whom she
had married after her divorce from Mr.
TANG in the mid-1980s.
"They were very devoted to each other," says Donald
CHEN, president
of the community centre, where Ms.
LIN became an executive director.
"The two of them would come in together and enjoy the company
of others."
Almost 20 years his wife's senior, Mr.
LIN had lived in Taiwan
before coming to Canada. He served in the air force, Mr.
CHEN
said, and went on to become a teacher and then the head of an
elementary school.
"We called him 'Principal,' " he said.
Mr. LIN was in his mid-70s when he died, and had long been retired.
His own children live in Taiwan, according to Mr.
TANG, who says
he was not close to his stepfather.
At the centre, Ms.
LIN organized such activities for the women
as tai chi, gardening and dancing. But she also had a passion
for mahjong, the popular Chinese tile game, often taking on some
of the seniors at the centre.
"She could play all night," Mr.
TANG said.
Friendly and outgoing, "she wore a smile all the time," Mr.
CHEN
says. "She was very sweet and very friendly," enjoyed the company
of others, and treated people at the centre as "sisters and mothers."
Mr. TANG agrees, saying: "She liked to chat."
She also liked to help. In March, she traded her part-time duties
in West Park's respiratory services for a full-time job in the
new sudden acute respiratory syndrome unit. Fourteen staff members
from Scarborough Hospital (Grace Division), the initial sudden
acute respiratory syndrome epicentre, had been infected and transferred
to the ward for treatment.
The caregivers managed to fight off the infection until last
month, when June, Nelia
LAROZA, 51, of North York General Hospital,
became the first nurse to die. Ms.
LIN was the second. Her death
brought the sudden acute respiratory syndrome fatalities in Canada
to 41, all in Ontario.
Colleagues at West Park Healthcare Centre are in mourning. Last
weekend, the hospital lowered its flag to half-mast, and later
issued a statement saying that Ms.
LIN, "like everyone else who
had worked to contain sudden acute respiratory syndrome and care
for patients under stressful and extreme circumstances, was considered
a hero."
Barbara WAHL, president of the Ontario Nurses' Association, says
that "I certainly heard outstanding things about her nursing
care. She was totally dedicated."
Her death, Ms.
WAHL adds, "is a terrible blow to her colleagues,"
and to her profession.
Those co-workers remember her compassion and generosity.
"Tecla provided a unique mix of skilled nursing and unwavering
compassion for her patients and fellow staff members," the statement
says. "Popular, hard working and beloved by many, she would even
sometimes bring lunch for her colleagues."
She was also, her son says, "known for her resilience and strength."
Even while confined to her hospital bed, she was trying to plan
a wedding -- Wilson, 34, is to be married in September. "She
was really looking forward to it," brother Michael says.
A private funeral service for family, Friends and invited guests
will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at the Hong Kong Funeral Home,
located at 8088 Yonge Street, in Thornhill, Ontario
The public will be received at the funeral home tomorrow from
2 to 6 p.m. and Monday from 5 to 9 p.m.
Tomorrow afternoon at 3, the Chinese Community Centre, located
at 84 Augusta Ave., will conduct a special memorial service for
Mr. and Ms.
LIN, who leaves her mother, a sister and two brothers
in Hong Kong, as well as her sons.
Ms. LIN was an animal lover with two cats. Her family asks that
memorial donations be sent to the Toronto Humane Society.

WONG o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-11 published
Creator of Savage God
Theatre director was a Canadian nationalist, a fan of the avant
garde and a champion of playwright George Ryga. He was also seen
as a kook, a dilettante and a street fighter
By Tom HAWTHORNSpecial to The Globe and Mail Saturday, October
11, 2003 - Page F9
John JULIANI was a provocateur in life as on stage. A man passionate
about the possibilities of theatre, he roused reverence in some,
antipathy in others.
His most infamous act was to challenge the Stratford Festival's
newly hired artistic director to a duel. Robin
PHILLIPS's offence
was that he is British when Mr.
JULIANI and others were certain
a land as grand as Canada was capable of producing a director
for its Shakespearean theatre.
What he called a "romantic gesture with tongue in cheek" earned
cheers from Canadian theatre directors and sneers from much of
the theatre establishment.
Mr. JULIANI, who has died at the age of 63, was an unabashed
Canadian nationalist, a dedicated fan of the avant garde, an
ardent defender of the right of actors to a decent living, a
champion of playwright George Ryga and a tireless figure so commanding
as to develop an intense loyalty among acolytes.
At the same time, he was seen as a kook, a dilettante and a street
fighter. One critic called him "the Tiger Williams of Canadian
theatre," his pugnacious approach earning him comparison to a
notorious hockey goon. In his defence, Mr.
JULIANI explained
that he was merely a "true believer" with opinions on controversial
subjects.
Mr. JULIANI's credits were long and varied, including spontaneous
Sixties street happenings such as the staging of his own wedding
as a theatrical performance and brief appearances on such 1990s
television dramas as The X-Files.
From 1982 until 1997, Mr.
JULIANI was executive producer of radio
drama for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio in Vancouver.
He helped to bring to air many celebrated productions, including
the brilliant and provocative Dim Sum Diaries by playwright Mark
LEIREN-
YOUNG.
Mr. JULIANI also possessed a head-turning beauty, with a profile
as striking as a Roman bust. Radio host Bill
RICHARDSON commented
on his handsomeness at a raucous memorial after his death, calling
him a "hunka hunka burnin' love." Some said he had the looks
and bearing of a Shakespearean king.
John Charles
JULIANI was born in Montreal on March 24, 1940.
Raised in a working-class neighbourhood, he attended Loyola College
and was an early graduate from the fledgling National Theatre
School.
He spent two seasons as an actor at Stratford before being hired
as a theatre teacher at Simon Fraser University in 1966. The
new university atop Burnaby Mountain east of Vancouver was a
hotbed of radicalism in politics and the arts. Mr.
JULIANI bristled
at an imposed curriculum and so infuriated the administration
that he was banned from the campus in 1969.
Mr. JULIANI was heavily influenced by the writing of Antonin
Artaud, a Surrealist who championed a theatre based on the imagination.
He long sought to erase the barrier between scripted text and
sensory impression, between performer and audience, to mixed
success.
After moving to the West Coast, Mr.
JULIANI launched a series
of experiments in theatre. He credited these productions to Savage
God, which was less a troupe in the traditional sense than a
title granted to any performance involving Mr.
JULIANI.
The name
came from William Butler Yeats's awestruck reaction to Alfred
Jarry's Ubu Roi: "After us, the Savage God?"
Savage God defied explanation, though many tried and even Mr.
JULIANI offered suggestions. Savage God was "an anthology of
question marks," he once said. (It was, after all, the 1960s.)
"Savage God is simply the Imagination," he told the Vancouver
Sun, "insatiable, unrelenting, fiercely energetic, wary of categorization,
fond of contradiction and inveterately iconoclastic."
In January, 1970, Mr.
JULIANI married dancer Donna
WONG, a ceremony
conducted as a Savage God performance at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
He repeated the process at the christening of his son. Ms.
WONG-
JULIANI
would be his domestic and drama partner for more than three decades.
In 1971, the streets of Vancouver were the scene of several spontaneous
and sometimes incomprehensible -- performances under the aegis
of PACET ("pilot alternative complement to existing theatre.")
The $18,000 project, funded by the federal government, incorporated
Gestalt therapy sessions in street performances.
Theatrical events took place willy-nilly across the city, including
malls, the airport, the library and Stanley Park. Admission was
not charged, nor did all spectators appreciate their role as
audience to avant-garde performance. A scene in which bicyclists
wearing gas masks pedalled along city streets left many scratching
their heads in puzzlement.
In 1974, Mr.
JULIANI moved to Toronto to set up a graduate theatre-studies
program at York University.
He called the program
PEAK ("
Performance,Example,Animation,
Katharsis") and perhaps should have found an acronym for
PEEK,
as the instructor and his class stripped naked to protest against
a lack of classroom space.
The challenge to the new Stratford artistic director in 1974
was written on a piece of parchment and delivered in London by
Don RUBIN, a York colleague. Alas, Mr.
RUBIN could not find a
proper gauntlet and wound up ceremoniously striking Mr.
PHILLIPS
with a red rubber glove, an absurd note to a theatrical protest.
In 1978, Mr.
JULIANI took the stage in a Toronto production of
Children of Night, portraying Janusz Korczak, a doctor and teacher
who ran an orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto. The critics were appalled.
Gina MALLET of the Toronto Star said Mr.
JULIANI's performance
sullied Dr. Korczak's memory. Jay
SCOTT of The Globe and Mail,
noting "the dreadfulness" of Mr.
JULIANI's acting, said the production
robbed the dead of their dignity.
From the stage, Mr.
JULIANI challenged the Star's critic to a
public debate on the aesthetics of theatre. He also wrote a letter
to the editor, noting that Holocaust survivors in the audience
had wholeheartedly embraced the production.
Mr. JULIANI wound up in Edmonton, where he continued to condemn
the "exorbitance, elitism and museum theatre" of the establishment.
In 1982, he directed and co-wrote Latitude 55°, a feature film
with just two characters -- a slick woman from the city and a
Polish potato farmer -- set in a snowbound cabin. "It is filled
with a passionate conviction that evaporates in pretentious pronouncements,"
TheGlobe'sCaroleCORBEIL wrote, "filled with truthful moments
that evaporate in the desire to use every narcissistic trick
in the book."
In a 1983 book examining the alternative theatre movement in
Canada, author Renate
USMIANI devoted most of a chapter to Mr.
JULIANI, a decision that got her a scathing rebuke from a reviewer
who considered him worthy of little more than a footnote.
"His works are curiosities; at best, they are worthy experiments
in Artaudian theory," Boyd
NEIL wrote in a Globe review. "But
they are neither popular... nor influential."
Mr. JULIANI's years at Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio
in Vancouver were both productive and successful. Among the many
projects he directed was a three-part adaptation of Margaret
Laurence'sTheDiviners; King Lear, starring John
COLICOS; a
13-part series titled, Disaster! Acts of God or Acts of Man?"
and, famously, Ryga's The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, with Leonard
GEORGE
portraying a role once assumed on stage by his late father, Chief
Dan GEORGE.
The surprise selection of Mr.
GEORGE was typical
of Mr. JULIANI's often brilliant casting.
Mr. JULIANI directed a 1989 production of The Glass Menagerie
at the Vancouver Playhouse with Jennifer Phipps and Morris Panych.
Globe reviewer Liam
LACEY praised a production that "opens up
the play like an old treasure chest, and lets in some fresh air
without rearranging or disturbing the work's original grandeurs
and caprices."
Four years later, Mr.
JULIANI was directing a production of the
mystery thriller Sleepwalker when actor Peter
HAWORTH took sick
shortly before opening night. The director suddenly found himself
as the male lead. "Not even the most colossal egotist would want
to do this," he said.
Dim Sum Diaries, a series of monologues written by Mr.
LEIREN-
YOUNG,
received protests when aired by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Radio in 1991. One episode, entitled The Sequoia, in which the
white vendor of a luxury home launches a tirade against the Hong
Kong immigrant who cuts down two rare and spectacular trees on
the property, was accused of being racist. The playwright's well-intentioned
exploration of stereotyping was charged with fostering those
very prejudices.
After directing Dim Sum Diaries, Mr.
JULIANI urged the playwright
to tackle an issue that was dividing his church. Mr.
LEIREN-
YOUNG
remembers replying: "You're talking same-sex marriage in the
Anglican church and you want a straight Jewish guy to write this?"
The resulting play, titled Articles of Faith: The Battle of St.
Alban's, was staged at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Vancouver
to great acclaim.
The collaborations between young playwright and veteran director
succeeded in achieving Mr.
JULIANI's goal of inspiring dialogue
through theatre.
Mr. JULIANI had a reputation as a demanding taskmaster for novice
and veteran actors alike. Rehearsals were jokingly called "Savage
God Boot Camp."
He maintained a breakneck pace, both in the theatre and in the
boardroom. He was artistic co-director of Opera Breve, a small
company dedicated to nurturing young singers; president of the
Union of British Columbia Performers (Alliance of Canadian Cinema,
Television and Radio Artists); and, a former national president
of the Directors Guild of Canada, among many boards on which
he served.
Feeling fatigued in early August, Mr.
JULIANI was diagnosed with
liver cancer. The end came swiftly. He died on August 21 at Lions
Gate Hospital in North Vancouver.
He leaves his wife of 33 years, Donna
WONG-
JULIANI, and a son,
Alessandro
JULIANI, an actor. He also leaves brothers Richard
and Norman.
(Wit was long a part of the
JULIANI mystique. The family pet,
a canine named Beau Beau, was referred to in the family's paid
obituary notice as a Savage Dog.)
For one who roused such passions, Mr.
JULIANI felt that he led
a conservative life. "I have always been a square," he once said.
A theatrical farewell to Mr.
JULIANI attracted hundreds to St.
Andrew's Wesley Church in Vancouver on Labour Day, a Monday and
traditionally a quiet date on the theatre calendar. Those in
attendance were encouraged to write remembrances on Post-It notes,
which were then stuck to the church's pillars.
The City of Vancouver has declared next March 24, which would
have been Mr.
JULIANI's 64th birthday, to be Savage God Day.

WONGTHONGLUA o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-03-06 published
MacLELLAN, Robert Gordan Primrose April 6, 1919 - March 2, 2003
RobertG.P.MacLELLAN, of Calgary, Alberta retired General Counsel
of the Husky Oil Company, died on Sunday, March 2, 2003 of pneumonia,
at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary. He was a month short
of his 84th birthday. Born in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, on April
6, 1919, Robert was the only child of Dr. Robert Gordon
MacLELLAN
and Hazel Carré Primrose
MacLELLAN.
His father died in 1930,
and his mother in 1937. An aunt helped his widowed mother raise
him. Robert attended local schools and university in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, graduating in law from Dalhousie University, Halifax,
after World War 2. Robert enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1942
until 1946, as a Lieutenant in the British Columbia Dragoons
(the 9th Canadian Armoured Regiment), serving in Italy, Belgium
and Holland. He served as General Counsel of the Husky Oil Limited,
the parent company with its two wholly-owned subsidiaries, Husky
Oil Company, and Husky Oil Canadian Operations, for 35 years,
based in Calgary, until he retired in the early l980's. Robert,
(his Friends called him 'Bob'), enjoyed the Friendship of his
colleagues at Husky Oil and after his retirement, he and others
formed a dining club, the Husky Dining Club. It still operates
at the Hospitality Inn.A bachelor, he enjoyed life at his Riverdale
Avenue bungalow, where he had a large library. A fall and a stroke
weakened him five years ago, and he entered Scottish Extendicare
on 25th Avenue South West. Due to its imminent closure, Robert
was moved to the Colonel Belcher nursing facility in February.
Robert came from a distinguished Nova Scotian family. His paternal
grandfather, for whom he and his father were named, Robert
MacLELLAN,
a distinguished educator, was Principal of Pictou Academy from
1889 to 1923. The elder
MacLELLAN helped to prepare young minds
for the challenges of the 20th century. Pictou Academy, through
its principals and graduates had strong links to Dalhousie University.
Robert's maternal grandfather was Senator Clarence
PRIMROSE,
also of Pictou. Robert is survived by several cousins, among
them, Janet Maclellan
TOOLE of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Judith
Ann (MacLELLAN)
GIBSON, of Saint John's, Newfoundland, and Ann
MacLELLAN of Amherstview, Ontario. His family is greatly indebted
to the care-giving services of 'Tip' Pornthip
WONGTHONGLUA, whose
intelligence, gentleness and devotion were always exceptional,
during his stay at Scottish, Colonel Belcher and Rockyview Hospital.
A committal service in Nova Scotia will take place in the summer.
Friends who wish to pay their respects to Robert's memory and
sign the memorial book may visit Mcinnis and Holloway's 'Fish Creek
Chapel' (14441 Bannister Road S.E., Calgary, Alberta). To e-mail
expressions of sympathy: condolences@mcinnisandholloway.com Subject
Heading: Robert
MacLELLAN. In living memory of Robert
MacLELLAN,
a tree will be planted at Fish Creek Provincial Park by Mcinnis
& Holloway Funeral Homes, 'Fish Creek Chapel', 14441 Bannister
Rd. S.E. Calgary, Alberta Tel: (403) 256-9575